I lent money without a loan certificate. Is a loan civil lawsuit possible?

Hello. I am a civil specialist attorney at Daeryun Law Firm.

The absence of a loan certificate does not immediately make a loan civil lawsuit impossible.

The key in a civil lawsuit is not the existence of a loan certificate, but whether you can prove that you actually lent money and that the other party has an obligation to repay it.

A loan certificate is a strong piece of evidence, but it is not a mandatory requirement.

Account transfer records, KakaoTalk or text messages, recorded phone calls, conversations regarding requests to borrow money, and the fact of partial repayment can all be utilized as important evidence in a loan civil lawsuit.

In particular, if there are expressions like ‘lent’ or ‘loan’ in the transfer memo, or if there are circumstances mentioning repayment time or amount in conversations, they can be sufficiently evaluated as evidence supporting the fact of borrowing.

However, if the other party disputes by claiming "it was a gift" or "it was support for living expenses," simple transfer records alone may be insufficient.

In such cases, it is important to comprehensively organize and prove the circumstances under which the money was lent, whether there were repeated transactions, and conversations premised on repayment.

In addition, if you clearly demand repayment through content-certified mail before litigation, it is highly likely to be utilized as advantageous material in the subsequent loan civil lawsuit.

Even if the loan relationship is clear, if the other party denies it, setting the direction of the initial response is most important.

Rather than judging alone, we recommend establishing a realistic response strategy through the assistance of a civil specialist attorney who can accurately review the structure of the case.